The present invention relates to a medicine feed unit suitable for feeding of medicines packaged in stick-like bags.
Conventionally, as an apparatus for feeding stick-like medicines (medicine sticks) such as, for example, ampoules packaged in bags, the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-255651 can be mentioned.
In this apparatus, packaged ampoules are housed in a container main body in a state of being aligned in a vertical direction, and rotation of a rotor provided at a lower end portion of the container main body allows the packaged ampoules to be fed one by one by via a housing groove formed in an outer peripheral surface of the rotor.
However, in the aforementioned conventional apparatus, a complicated work of aligning the packaged ampoules once in the container main body is required. Consequently, an apparatus has been desired in which a predetermined number of medicine sticks such as packaged ampoules can be appropriately fed without aligning them.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a medicine feed unit by which a predetermined number of medicine sticks can be reliably fed without requiring an aligning work.
As means for achieving the above object, the present invention provides a medicine feed unit equipped with a medicine housing container for housing a plurality of medicine sticks each prepared by packaging a medicine in a cylindrical bag sealed at both end portions, and a medicine feeding section to which the medicine housing container is removably attached and which feeds the medicine sticks one by one, wherein
the medicine feeding section comprises:
conveyance means having a passage which allows the medicine stick to be conveyed only in a longitudinal direction thereof;
a medicine feeding container having an inclined surface acting to move the medicine stick conveyed by the conveyance means in a diagonally downward direction which is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the medicine stick; and
a rotor which is disposed in the medicine feeding container so as to be drivable into rotation, and which conveys the medicine stick moved along the inclined surface while holding the medicine stick in a holding depressed portion formed in an outer periphery thereof.
With this constitution, the conveyance means can be driven to reliably convey a medicine stick in a longitudinal direction thereof. Since the conveyed medicine stick is further moved in the medicine feeding container following the inclined surface, the medicine stick can be fed while being held in the holding depressed portion by rotating the rotor.
It is preferable that the holding depressed portion of the rotor comprises a holding groove for holding a body of the medicine stick, and an escape depressed portion for avoiding interference with both end portions, since wide portions at both ends can be brought into no contact by the escape depressed portion and a state of holding a medicine stick in the holding depressed portion can be stabilized.
The aforementioned medicine feeding container is preferably inclined diagonally downward toward the medicine stick conveyance direction. Furthermore, it is preferable to form a contact surface for assisting entry of the medicine stick into the holding groove by correcting the inclination when the medicine stick is held in the holding groove in a part of the escape depressed portion positioned on a lower side in the holding depressed portion of the rotor.
The medicine housing container is preferably equipped with delivering means for delivering the medicine stick in the longitudinal direction thereof. In this case, it is preferable that a speed of conveying the medicine stick by the conveyance means of the medicine feeding section is made higher than a conveyance speed by the delivering means since a state of feeding the medicine stick into the medicine feeding container can be stabilized.
When the rotor does not properly rotate forward, it is preferable that the rotor is rotated reverse for a predetermined time and then rotated forward again since jamming of a medicine stick can be rapidly eliminated.
It is preferable to include an opening which becomes continuous with the passage of the medicine feeding section when the medicine housing container is attached to the medicine feeding section, and a door which closes the opening when the medicine housing container is removed from the medicine feeding section. Furthermore, for removal of the medicine housing container from the medicine feeding section, it is preferable to drive the delivering means into reverse rotation since the medicine housing container can be removed without dropping medicine stick from the medicine housing container or jamming the medicine stick in the door.
It is preferable to form steps depressed toward a plate thickness direction in both end portions along the medicine stick conveying direction in the inclined surface of the medicine feeding container since jamming of the medicine stick can be reliably avoided.
Furthermore, it is preferable to form a circular plate integrally at least on one end surface of the rotor since a medicine stick can be prevented from being inclined by a rotation of the rotor and reliably discharged.
Furthermore, in another aspect, the present invention provides a medicine feed unit equipped with a medicine housing container for housing a plurality of medicine sticks each prepared by packaging a medicine in a cylindrical bag sealed at both end portions, and a medicine feeding section to which the medicine housing container is removably attached and which feeds the medicine sticks one by one, wherein
the medicine feeding section comprises:
conveyance means having a passage which allows the medicine stick to be conveyed only in a longitudinal direction thereof;
a medicine feeding container for housing the medicine stick conveyed by the conveyance means; and
a picker in which a rotating disc is disposed in the medicine feeding container so as to be drivable into rotation and is equipped with a holding section that can be changed in direction along with a rotation of the rotating disc between a first position, at which a medicine stick in the medicine feeding container is scooped, and a second position, at which the scooped medicine stick is fed to outside.